Open AccessWhy are Industrial Relations in Spain Competitive? Trust in Management, Union Support and Conflict Behaviour in Worker Representatives
Author(s) -
Patricia Elgoibar,
Lourdes Munduate,
Francisco J. Medina,
Martin Euwema
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
revista internacional de organizaciones
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2013-570X
pISSN - 1886-4171
DOI - 10.17345/rio9.145-168
Subject(s) - style (visual arts) , context (archaeology) , industrial relations , conflict management , social relation , relation (database) , sociology , management styles , political science , social psychology , psychology , public relations , social science , law , geography , archaeology , database , computer science
In the current context of limited resources and economic, social and labour changes, organizational conflicts are becoming more and more competitive. Two possible explanations for this approach to conflict in Spain are the low trust between unions and management and the long tradition of confrontation in industrial relations. In this study we analyse the conflict pattern from worker representatives and the relation to trust in management and union support. The hypotheses are tested in a quantitative study of 719 representatives. Results show that a) representatives use a competitive conflict style; b) trust is negatively related to this style; and c) union support is positively related to the style. We explore how societal culture and historical industrial relations tradition explain these relations.